Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Since Ozarkers always wish the country could be like it was back in the 50's, I decided to give them a good dose of 50's nostalgia (My way, of course) featuring the thing that horrifies Ozarkers the most - teen age rebellion. ENJOY!

Look at all the kids that are rebeling in the 50s! BRANDO! JAMES DEAN! JACK NICHOLSON! SIDNEY POITIER! OLIVER REED! JERRY LEE LEWIS! ELVIS! CLIFF RICHARD! THAT GUY FROM "LAREDO"! THE RIDDLER from BATMAN! THE MAN from U.N.C.L.E IS A CAVEMAN! PA INGLES IS A WEREWOLF! EVEN WINSTON CHURCHILL'S DAUGHTER IS MIXED UP IT THIS!

Friday, June 25, 2010

If you watch the news you know that there are horrible things going on. The worst oil spill in U.S history, never ending war in the middle east, Nashville destroyed by flooding, not to mention the economy, unemployment, and housing market, however, Ozarkers are rejoicing.

And why was Get Smart never shown in reruns in Springfield? Or the Adventures of Superman or Have Gun Will Travel or Dark Shadows? Instead I have to buy the DVDs to see these shows, while the Andy of Mayberry fans get to watch their favorite show for free.

Besides, who would want to live in Mayberry? They probably have only one radio station and it is a country station owned by the Shepherd Group that plays that "Chicken Fried" song every hour. Also, there is no diversity in Mayberry. Everyone in Mayberry is WHITE. Yuck!

Of course, opinions like this one is why I'm considered the Super Villain of the Ozarks!!! Mwu-HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

The Missouri Broadcasters Association issued a statement this evening on the on-going battle with hate-monger and supposed "write-in" U.S. Senate candidate Fraizer Glenn Miller. Miller was buying radio ads on Missouri radio stations. He was claiming that since he was a U.S. Senate candidate that the radio stations had to sell him ad time.

MBA and Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster filed a request for a declaratory ruling from the FCC on the matter.

"On Friday, June 18, 2010, the Missouri Broadcasters Association was advised by telephone that the FCC’s response to its petition would be in the form of informal, oral advice. The advice was received from the Media Bureau’s Policy Division staff. The advice was that, on the facts and pleading submitted by all parties, including Mr. Miller, it would not be unreasonable for Missouri broadcasting stations to determine that Miller is not a bona fide write-in candidate and therefore, Missouri broadcasters may deny him access to broadcast their stations.

This advice is an affirmation of the position taken by the MBA, Attorney General Koster and Zimmer Broadcasting and the FCC, prior to the filing of our petition. It confirms that a broadcaster who decides that Miller has not established himself to be a bona fide write-in candidate would not be acting unreasonably. Therefore, in our view, a Missouri broadcaster would not be held liable for having denied access retroactively.

The MBA continues to believe that Mr. Miller’s demands for mandatory access were an abuse of the privilege contained in the Communications Act for bona fide candidates. The Communications Act creates a special mandatory-access rule only for federal candidates, carefully limited to party nominees and those who are “bona fide,” or active and credible in the circumstances of the particular race. This result validates the MBA’s position in its petition and reply comments that Miller has not established himself to be a bona fide candidate. Miller is merely attempting to use broadcasters as a megaphone for his message, and broadcasters are not required to allow themselves to be used as a purveyor of personal views merely upon the claim of candidacy for federal office."

Sunday, June 20, 2010

Once again, I've decided to travel back into time to my SMSU days. I've been reflective lately on all the hope and promise of those days that has been largely stomped on the repressive Ozarks culture.

Let's look at one facet of my media career, which is radio. As a media major, I studied newspaper, radio and television. I had a particular interest in radio. Part of this came from the simple fact that i was always interested in improving the local radio scene. I used to do some DXing late at night as a kid and I felt that many of the local radio station needed to be more like the major market stations. It was my destiny to try to change things around here, especially KWLT FM 92 and KJEL in Lebanon.

Another thing that energized my interest in radio, was an article in Rolling Stone about college radio was becoming a big influence in the music world. Rolling Stone and Billboard both had college rock charts. According to Rolling Stone, the young people in college radio were going to revitalize radio with their creativity and free-form programming.

The only radio stations in Springfield offering internships were KTTS, KTXR and KSMU. Rumor has it one of the rock stations in town stopped offering internships because they didn't want any college kids telling people about rampant cocaine use by the staff. I took an internship at KSMU, because they allowed students to program their own music on the Midnight Snack show. I used to listen to the Midnight Snack in Lebanon. It was there that I first fell in love with the Sex Pistols, Ramones and the various paisley underground bands.

College radio eventually beat mainstream radio to probably the greatest band of the 90's, Nirvana. Springfield even had a radio station playing college rock, Z105 the Planet. Yes, it looked liked my generation (now dubbed Generation X by the press). SO WHAT HAPPENED???

Several factors played into our lack of power in 2010. The major explanation goes back to the Telecom Act of 1996, which opened the door for the large radio corporations like Clear Channel, Cumulus, Journal and Citadel. Here is hoping the FCC reverses all this consolidation soon. With consolidation, most creative program directors lost their power in favor on PD for the whole country. Sadly, most of these companies adapted the attitude that "only country and talk are profitable in the post 9-11 society" and many alternative station were changed to something else. So then, why has radio lost so much money and listeners in the past few years? Could it be you are driving away listeners with that talk and country garbage?

A major problem that isn't talked about is the animosity and resistance faced us Generation X-college-radio-trained-talent from an element of white-conservative-Baby Boomers, who were in management, not just in radio but other media. These balding, fat middle aged guys wanted to keep us out of the industry. They also did like the changes we wanted to make. A Rolling Stone article once gave a name to a name to a notorious alternative rock radio destroyer, Randy Michaels of Jacor. I should also point out that Jacor (later engulfed by Clear Channel) owned the Premier Radio, which produces such garbage as Rush Limbaugh, Dr. Laura and Delilah. Do you see a pattern here?

However, there is a nostalgia for the college radio era and it's music. A friend of mine works at a book and music store. He has noticed people in their 40s buying the "college rock" of the 80s and 90s. Two blogs, Spinning Indie and Slicing Eyeballs, discuss both old and new college rock.

There is hope that there could be a turn around in the radio industry and us Generation X college radio slackers will save the industry from the suit wearing, Rush lovers in the big corporations. We are radio's only hope.

Of course, opinions like these are why I'm considered Super Villain of the Ozarks!!! Mwu-HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

Friday, June 11, 2010

Permit me to wax nostalgic for a bit, but this post has been coming for awhile and it is something I have to get out of my system. I've been thinking about my college years, when I was obtaining my Bachelor of Science in Media. I was just out of high school, away from home and I didn't have a job, so I was able to enjoy myself and have fun.

I found it was easier to make friends with people at SMSU (now known as MSU) than it was in the Lebanon R-3. For one thing, the need to conform to what everyone else was doing disappears in college. Also, I seem to have more in common with the city kids. We tended to like the same music, movies and other activities. We were the "Craig Hall Crowd," because that was where the communications, media and drama classes were held.

The people I tend to hang with in college tended to wear tie dye shirts with peace signs on them or shirts that said "EAT THE RICH" on them. Some even had pink t-shirts with a photo of Howard McNear, the barber from the Andy Griffith Show on the front and the words "PINK FLOYD" on the back. Get it! Yeah, it was funnier in 1987. We tended to drive older model small cars with bumper stickers reading "He who dies with the most toys, STILL DIES" or "Wouldn't be nice if the schools had plenty of money and the Pentagon had to have a bake sale?"

Our dorm room walls were covered in posters of Jim Morrison, Ozzy Osbourne and James Dean, as well as numerous assorted scantly clad women. The only names I can think of for these women were Marilyn (The Seven Year Itch subway grate pose), Farah (These were usually kind of ragged because they had been around for several years), Brooke and Elvira (Yes, THAT Elvira - usually these were Budweiser promotional posters, so you wonder if these guys were more attracted to beer than the big breasted Goth chick). Oh, I cannot forget the Tennis Girl poster (above).

I should point out that there was a boom in psychedelic music and fashion. Part of this may have been because Rolling Stone was celebrating its 20th anniversary and running a lot of retrospective article on the Summer of Love and the 60s. However, as I look back, we may have been rebelling against the "Just Say No" crap that had been forced down our throats in junior high and high school.

There were some people that we didn't like. These people were what we called Preppies. These people were like the villains in a lot the comedy films of the time. While we were wanting to Bluto from Animal House, these people wanted to be Greg Marmalard and Douglas C. Neidemeyer from Animal House. These people took things way too seriously. They were like the people we didn't like in junior high and high school. They were all involved in Young Republicans and came to class wearing ties. They were always business majors of some sort, only interested in money and kissing butt. They were overachievers, who felt Bart Simpson was a bad role model for children. Bad part I see many young college kids now who are exactly like the Preppie kids. Kind of sad when you think about it.

Someone at the Standard gave one of these boneheads a column. I can remember his last name was Seitz, because I thought he was full of baloney. He spread hate toward anyone who didn't think like him and his tie wearing Preppie friends. He probably is either a talk radio host or a weenie blogger. They went to little meetings on Monday night where they listened to speeches by Mel Hancock and Jean Dixon. Needless to say these people were not out having fun like the rest of us.

I guess what has brought this on is the fact I keep running into or seeing the Preppies around Springfield, but the people I liked are nowhere to be seen. Maybe they went back to St. Louis, Kansas City and Chicago. At least one person, went to Hollywood. I see her on TV from time to time. I guess the Preppies were from here in Springfield. I hope my friends are still they way they were when we were in school. After all the Preppies are all still the obnoxious little twerps they were when we were in school.

Of course, opinions like this are why I'm the Super Villain of the Ozarks!!! Mwu-HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

Thursday, June 3, 2010

I've been thinking back to my college days lately. From the moment I entered Missouri State University (then Southwest Missouri State University) in the fall of 1987, I knew what I wanted to major in and what field I want to pursue: media. I felt I could do work in any media field: radio, TV or newspaper. At that time there was no such creature as "the Internet."

After working for over twenty years in all three forms of media, I feel that being a member of the media is being rendered meaningless by corporate greed and their need to pander to those who hate the media.

For instance, at least two of the major corporate radio chains have cut the jobs of local talent and replaced them with inexperienced, untrained, uneducated part-timers, who are simply there to make sure the automation runs a feed from another city. This has already caused some embarrassment for one company during a recent tornado.

The talk radio industry enjoys hiring people who are outside broadcasting or journalism to host shows. A big trend is to hire out-of-work politicians, political consultants or business people to be "the voice of reason." Many of the talk radio host (some local host included) have their "callers" prearranged. These are friends reading from scripts or are political consultants masquerading as "regular people." (How many regular people do you know named "Jack-Jack") Local some of the talk radio shows have very little screening or gate keeping. Part of this is due to time constraints of the "open forum" nature of the show, but also because Bubba Earl Thorndike from Dry Knobb or Betty June Nosbey from Koshginong gets upset if they don't get on the air to give their opinion.

Locally, the News Leader has let go of several well-known, respected and talented journalist in favor of giving a column to people like this redneck idiot.

Websites for local TV stations and newspapers have "comment sections" which allow Bubba Earl and Betty June to slam a story if they don't like it and overrule what ever KOLR's Joy Robertson or KYTV's Ethan Forhetz said. "That'll learn dem thar media folks a lessin."

And don't get me started on the "stars" created by reality TV!

RBR/TVBR reports that a Republican lawmaker in Michigan wants journalist to be licensed by the state. Bad part, I agree with a little of this. A law requiring a journalist to get a license is wrong (especially when you read the provisions), however, holding corporate media management responsible for hiring skilled, educated journalist rather than amateur hacks that "represent the average citizen" when most of these people sound like Klan members.

What in the long run cost less? The salary of a good journalist/media person or a lawsuit after Bubba and Betty slandered someone or didn't air a tornado warning.

I guess what bothers me is the fact that I got into the media to be a "voice" people listened to and trusted. Every place I have worked has forced me into the background while making the amateur the "voice" that I should be. Supposedly, their opinions and interest are more important than mine. That is why I had to start this blog is because some people in the commercial media don't feel I represent the "typical Ozarks view" or my ideas "might upset" Ozarkers.

Of course, that is why I'm considered the Super Villain of the Ozarks!!! Mwu-HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

About Me

I was once a nice young media student at the local university until everything in Springfield (including the radio industry) became so uptight, family friendly and anti-youth. No matter how I tried, I couldn't change the industry. So, I decided be the Pied Piper lead the youth of Springfield in a Revolution against the tyranny of blandness and right-wing paranoia.
I would like to change radio by ridding the world of talk radio and country music. THEN I WILL RULE THE WORLD!!! Mwu-HAHAHAHAHAHAH!